Markets trade in green in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks entered into the positive territory in afternoon session, hovering near intra-day high level as investor-sentiments got some support after RBI’s governor RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan stated that the central bank would not hold key policy rates for longer if macroeconomic situation improves in future. Further, the gains in auto, healthcare and realty stocks also provided support to the domestic equity benchmarks. The RBI has kept the repo rate unchanged at 8% and the cash reserve ratio (CRR) of scheduled banks unchanged at 4.0%. However, the central bank cut the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) by 50 basis points (0.50 %) to 22%. The move will provide more funds in money markets and may spur lending. Further, the HSBC services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) stood at 52.2 in July, above 50 mark for third successive consecutive month that separates growth from contraction. Most of the sectoral indices were trading in green with auto as the top gaining index trading up by around 1.01%. Buying was broad based with both mid cap and small cap indices were trading up by over 0.50%.

Marico has surged around 10% to Rs 281 after the company reported a better-than-expected 19% year-on-year jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 185 crore for Q1FY15 on back of strong volume growth. On the other hand, Petronet LNG has dipped around 5% to Rs 172 after reporting a 30% year-on-year decline in net profit at Rs 157 crore for Q1 FY15 due to higher finance cost.

On global front, Asian equity indices were trading in red with Nikkei 225 down by 0.94% and  Hang Seng down by 0.33% as a private gauge of Chinese services industries fell to a record low. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 7,700 and 25,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,508 stocks traded, 1,372 stocks advanced, while 1,026 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25,806.54 up by 83.38 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 25,831.53 and 25,654.84. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.50%, while Small cap index up by 0.62%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.92%, Healthcare up by 0.85%, Realty up by 0.69%, IT up by 0.34% and Teck up by 0.27%. On the flip side, FMCG down by 0.29%, Metal down by 0.28%, Capital Goods down by 0.13%, Oil and Gas down by 0.09% and Power down by 0.03% were the losing indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 2.38%, Sun Pharma up by 2.07%, M&M up by 1.87%, ONGC up by 1.71% and Dr Reddy’s Lab up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Hero Motocorp down by 2.02%, HDFC down by 1.31%, Coal India down by 0.68%, RIL down by 0.65% and ITC down by 0.64% were the top losers on the BSE. 

Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram has stated that achieving fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent is a tough task, however the government will be able to achieve this target as there are clear signs of economy picking up leading to buoyancy in revenue realisation. Mayaram further added that the government has taken very large number of bold decisions which will help to boost Indian economic growth as well as revenue.

The government during budget 2014-15 has set fiscal deficit target at 4.1 percent of GDP this year and decided to lower it to 3 percent of GDP by 2016-17. However, fiscal deficit at the end Q1 FY15 was widened to 56.1% of the budget estimate of Rs 5.31 lakh crore for the full fiscal year as growth in revenue receipts slowed and interest payments rose. Total expenditure of the government during April-June was Rs 4.13 lakh crore or 23 percent of the entire year estimates. On the fiscal deficit crossing half the budget estimate (BE) in first quarter, Mayaram stressed that in certain months, the government expenditure is higher as comparison to revenues adding that taxes are collected in certain periodical manner.

In order to boost industrial output and growth, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Budget speech has announced a host of measures including incentives for the housing sector and relief in indirect taxes on auto and other sectors. India's economic growth stayed below 5 percent for the second year in a row at 4.7 percent during FY14.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7,714.90 up by 31.25 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 7,715.20 and 7,665.30. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 2.82%, ACC up by 2.68%, Ambuja Cement up by 2.50%, Bank of Baroda up by 2.23% and Grasim up by 2.19%. On the flip side, Hero Motocorp down by 1.45%, HDFC down by 0.72%, Asian Paints down by 0.61%, ITC down by 0.54% and BPCL down by 0.53% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading in red; Nikkei 225 down by 0.94% to 15,328.48,  Hang Seng down by 0.33% to 24,518.25, Shanghai Composite down by 0.52% to 2,211.28, Jakarta Stock Price Index down by 0.46% to 5,095.75 and Taiwan Weighted down by 2.02% to 9,141.44. While, Straits Times Index up by 0.17% to 3,323.98